FAMILIES MATTER

So here they stood in late fall of 1621 amidst a ground littered with the crudely marked graves of everybody’s loved ones, a store house low on food, supply ships late in coming, the stormy Atlantic to their backs, a stern forest to their front. The subject of the discussion was, “How do we appropriately  mark the first anniversary of our arrival in the ‘new world’?” Some proposed a day of mourning when attention would be focused on those who lay in graves in a foreign land. Others said: ALet’s focus on what we have going for us—we have some provisions—the Indians have been our friends—fifty of us have survived@ — Governor Bradford said: ALET US GIVE THANKS!@

Thanksgiving Day was declared a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 at a time when our nation was split in twain. Brother was against brother and friend against friend. To draw a comparison of the tragedy, more Americans lost their lives in the Civil War than in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam combined. We lost 58,000 men in 12 years of fighting in the country of Vietnam. In just three days of fighting at Gettysburg there were 54,807 casualties. Yet in the midst of this most trying chapter in our national past, President Lincoln made the first national thanksgiving proclamation.

So, here we sit, 388 years away from Thanksgiving Day=s origin and 146 years away from its becoming a national holiday. What can we say about this day? All of us Americans did not have ancestors on the Mayflower. Some had ancestors on slave ships that arrived the year before (1619) in Jamestown, Virginia. Others had ancestors that arrived seeking gold — the Conquistadors.

Thanksgiving Day could remind us that regardless of how our ancestors arrived, we are all in the same boat today. And if the families of any of us suffer, we all suffer. If any part of our community sinks, we all sink. These are difficult times and we are all in them together!

Perhaps this Thanksgiving we could be grateful together that we live in a country where we are free to worship the way we choose or not to worship if we choose — where we have opportunities for advancement, even when the playing field is not level. Perhaps we could celebrate that we are not where we used to be and that by God=s grace and power we are not where we are going to be. And, maybe, just maybe, we could promise the One who has given us such wonderful blessings that we would look around this year, find someone less fortunate than ourselves and offer them a Ahand up@ in the coming year.